About

The Woman Card[s]

$150,003

pledged of $5,000 goal

3,918

backers

UPDATE: This project was successfully funded! First-edition decks will ship summer 2016. If you have questions, please check the FAQ and "Updates" tab. You can contact us at info@thewomancards.com with more questions. Thank you so, so much!

When my sister Zebby—who is currently finishing her Bachelor's of Fine Arts at the University of Iowa—heard the above exchange between Donald Trump and Secretary Clinton, she almost immediately started sketching "The Woman Card," a playing card-themed portrait of Hillary Clinton featured in the video above and shown below.

This sketch became The Woman Card[s]—a deck of playing cards celebrating American women at a time when we are only going to hear the phrase "The Woman Card" used by Donald Trump more and more often. The deck features 15 original, hand-drawn portraits of American women chosen by my sister and me to honor the incredible achievements the women of this country have made. 13 women appear in all four suits, with Betty White and Ellen DeGeneres as the Jokers. This is a full 54-card deck. (52 cards + 2 Jokers) This isn't just a novelty, somewhat cheeky deck of cards that is poking fun at a virulent mysoginist—it's a badass deck of playing cards featuring American women who changed the world.

The first-edition of the deck will feature fifteen incredible women, who were (and are!) pioneers in their fields, ranging from politics to music to science to humanitarian work to comedy. We've shared a few preview images below.

Hillary Rodham Clinton—Ace

Hillary Clinton

Back of the Cards

The Women

The prospect of choosing fifteen American women was both daunting and incredibly exciting. We made the decision to select the fifteen women we thought would be the best match and then to sort out the various ranks later, according to each woman's own history. If you have any recommendations for a potential second edition deck, please share them with us by email at info@thewomancards.com

Here's what we came up with:

Ace: Hillary Clinton—The word "ace" denotes "one" or "single," which is why there is only one spot on the card. A former First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is on the precipice of becoming the first woman to ever be nominated for President of the United States by a major American political party.

King: Ruth Bader Ginsburg—Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was dubbed the "Notorious RBG" in 2014, an allusion to famed New York rapper "Notorious BIG," following her blistering dissent in the Shelby case. Since acquiring the nickname, she has often been depicted wearing the King's crown worn by the Notorious BIG on the cover of Rolling Stone.

Queen: Beyoncé—Need we say more?

Jack: Clara Barton—We know that “Jack of all trades” is a simplistic moniker, but Clara Barton really did do it all. Throughout her career, she worked as a school teacher, a patent clerk, a front lines nurse during the Civil War, a civil rights activist, a renown suffragist, and an acclaimed lecturer. And then after all of that, she founded the American Red Cross.

10: Sylvia Rivera—In Sylvia's own words, "Ray Rivera left home at the age of 10 to become Sylvia. And that’s who I am." Sylvia then became a leading figure in what was then called the gay liberation movement, fighting to help protect young homeless drag queens and transgender women of color in New York City.

9: Amelia Earhart—The legendary American aviator Amelia Earhart spent her career breaking and setting flight records. (And briefly served as the aviation editor of Cosmopolitan magazine!) She played an instrumental role in creating "The Ninety-Nines," a pioneering women's aviation association.

8: Harriet Tubman—We've been hearing a lot about Harriet Tubman lately, who will soon be joining Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. During the eight years Tubman served as a "conductor" on the Underground Railroad, guiding hundreds of slaves to freedom, she never lost even a single passenger.

7: Mary Cassatt—One of seven children, Mary Cassatt was the most famous American Impressionist painter and often featured young children as the subjects of her work. In Paris, she befriended renown painter Edgar Degas, who once depicted her holding a hand of playing cards.

6: Susan B. Anthony—Although most Americans know Susan B. Anthony best for her activism for women's suffrage, she was also an author and historian on the topic and played a key role in initiating the six-volume History of Woman Suffrage. The tome was finally completed in 1922, after the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

5: Wilma Rudolph—The odds of Wilma Rudolph becoming known as "the fastest woman in history" were long: she contracted the polio virus as a child and spent five long years wearing a leg brace on her left leg and foot. After regaining her ability to walk, and then run, Rudolph went on to become the first American woman to ever win three Track and Field gold medals in a single Olympic Games.

4: Rosa Parks—On December 1, 1955, a Montgomery bus driver ordered four black passengers to move further back on his bus to make room for white passengers to sit. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat despite the threat of arrest. Three days later, the Montgomery Bus Boycott began, a defining moment in the American Civil Rights Movement.

3: Ida B. Wells—In 1892, three friends of Ida B. Wells were seized and murdered by a lynch-mob in Memphis, Tennessee. Wells launched a ground-breaking investigation into their deaths and spent two months traveling through the South investigating and writing about other lynchings, under near-constant threat of violence. She later became a founding member of the NAACP.

2: Dr. Sally Ride—In 1983, Dr. Sally Ride became the first American woman to enter space, she remains the youngest American to have ever done so, and is the first known LGBT astronaut. She made two journeys to space, both on board the space shuttle Challenger, founded NASA's Office of Exploration, and led NASA's first-ever long-term strategic planning process. In addition, her second mission was the first space mission ever to include two women.

Big Joker: Betty White—The so-called "Mayor of Hollywood" is widely regarded as a pioneering figure in American television and is recognized as the first woman to produce a sitcom. She currently holds the Guinness World Record for longest television career of a female entertainer.

Small Joker: Ellen DeGeneres—One of America's first out LGBT entertainers, Ellen's career has spanned stand-up comedy, sitcoms, daytime talk shows, award show hosting, voice acting, writing, directing, and more. In 2015, her Oscar selfie with a lot of other famous people became the most retweeted tweet of all time.

(Note: "Big" Joker and "Small" Joker are designated as such for the purposes of some games that require a differentiation.)

The Cards

Size: Our cards are being designed to the playing card standard of 2.5" x 3.5".

Cardstock: We're aiming to use the highest quality cardstock we can find. We will be keeping you updated via the "Updates" tab!

Shipping: We are currently investigating our shipping options. We currently are hoping that decks will begin shipping in mid-July and should arrive no later than late July for domestic orders and early August for international orders. Keep track of this in the "Updates" tab for more information!

Who We Are

Zebby is graduating from the University of Iowa with her Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Painting with an emphasis on illustration. She is a proud feminist and caucused for Hillary Clinton in 2016. You can view more of her work here.

Zach is an LGBTQ rights advocate, a Democratic activist, and a pledged delegate for Hillary Clinton at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. He is thrilled to be working with his sister in support of her incredible art.

Risks and challenges

In less than three and a half hours, you all funded this project! Thank you so much!!

The only challenge on our end, now, is handling the distribution of thousands of decks. We are still on track to begin shipping decks in early to mid-July.

Zebby is hard at work on finishing all fifteen portraits that will be featured on this 54-card deck. Zach is working on setting up logistics, manufacturing, distribution, shipping, etc. Keep your eye on this page for updates!